Thursday, April 22
7pm CT
Streaming on Twitch
FREE, $5+ suggested donation (100% goes to the artists)
Comfort Music + returns with live sets filmed at Comfort Station.
Artist Line-up
7:00pm CT - Irene Hsiao (movement) + Hunter Diamond (woodwinds)
7:30pm - KT Shivak (puppetry) + Ben Zucker (vibraphone)
8:00pm - Jasmine Mendoza (movement) + Katinka Kleijn (cello)
About the Artists
Irene Hsiao makes dances with visual art in museums and public spaces, a practice that includes interaction with visual artworks and experimental engagement with artists, institutions, and the public. Her work includes site-specific durational improvisation, solo theatrical dances, and video studies of art by Emmanuel Pratt, Virginio Ferrari, and Tang Chang at the Smart Museum of Art, and Philippe Parreno and Cevdet Erek at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has performed with companies and projects in the US, Asia, and Europe. Her writing on theater, art, dance, literature, and science can be found in venues including the Chicago Reader, LA Review of Books, SF Weekly, Newcity, and Chicago Sun-Times.
Hunter Diamond is a saxophonist and creative musician living and performing in Chicago, IL. Conceptual and improvised performances maintain his presence in the local and regional creative music communities. Hunter performs with several groups of his own: Black Diamond (co-led with saxophonist Artie Black), Herbsaint (New Orleans traditional), an improvising trio with guitarist Leroy Bach and bassist John Sutton, the Hunter Diamond Quartet, and Strange Frontiers: sonifying the poetry of his father Eric Diamond.
KT Shivak is an artist and puppeteer working in Chicago. As a member of the award winning puppetry collective Chicago Puppet Studio, KT has designed and built for productions by Ma-Yi Theater, The House, Lookingglass Theater, Lifeline Theater, Walkabout Theater, Manual Cinema, and Blair Thomas & Co. She has performed at the Eugene O’Neill National Puppetry Conference, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Ben Zucker engages in acts of creative juxtaposition and speculation as a composer, audiovisual artist, and multi-instrumentalist. He has contributed experimental music in places ranging from Elastic Arts to the London Roundhouse with concert works albums scores for media and frequent performances on brass, vibraphone, voice, and electronics. For his work he has been acclaimed as a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine) and “more than a little bit remarkable” (Free Jazz Blog).
Jasmine Mendoza is a visual and performance artist based in Chicago. She creates and performs multimedia performances that incorporate improvisation, sound, film, objects, and theatrical play. Jasmine is fascinated by imagery, time, environment, and the body's ability to transform and extend beyond its human form when informed by these ideas. She has presented work and performed at the Arts Club of Chicago, Elastic Arts, Links Hall, Comfort Station, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago Art Department, Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, Music Box Village, the Lyric Theater, and held residencies at Links Hall, Carrizozo AIR, and the Banff Centre. Frequent collaborators include Anna Martine Whitehead, Jenn Freeman, Zach Nicol, Lia Kohl, Corey Smith, Kioto Aoki, Kim Alpert, and Charles Rumback.
Katinka Kleijn is a cellist, improviser and multimedia artist. A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the International Contemporary Ensemble, she performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, at Lincoln Center, the Tokyo Metropolitan theater; in recital at Carolina Performing Arts and the Library of Congress. Recordings include STIR with guitarist Bill Mackay for Drag City Records and the Dai Fujikura cello concerto for SONY Japan. Her composition Forward Echo for 11 improvisers premiered at the Instigation Festival, and devised work with Lia Kohl resulted in Water on the Bridge for cellos and swimming pool, presented by the city of Chicago at the Eckhart Park Natatorium.